Before I get to what’s happening here in Kenya, quick request. My squad mates Anmari and Rachelle need financial support to stay on this trip. They each have a deadline of the end of this week, and any help you can give them through financial support or prayers would be greatly appreciated. Check out their blogs, and thanks so much for you help.
Also, check out my teammate Emily’s blog with a great video chronicling our first days in Kenya.
Also an update on where I’ll be going next. We leave Kenya on Friday to travel to Jinja, Uganda where my team will meet up the whole squad for a few days of rest, relaxation and rafting the Nile River. Crazy right? I’m so excited. On October 4th, my team along with team Shekinah will travel to Gulu, Uganda where we will be working with Child Voice International for the month likely working with war-affected children. The only thing else I know is our accommodations are hammocks in thatch-roofed mud huts – talk about authentic African. I’m excited. So keep my team in your prayers as we travel in the upcoming week.
Ok so on to life in Kenya. Our host Pastor Patrick is incredible. He’s so loving, caring and
serving. He’s constantly bringing us back snacks or going out of his way
to show us around town. Plus, his sense of humor is
awesome. Example: Alex, why is it called an Ipod? Me: Umm, I actually no
idea. Patrick: Shouldn’t it be called an ear-pod since it’s in your
ears? Also, things aren’t (Fanta)stic – they’re Cokealastic. Get it?
It’s a soft drink pun. Good. Moving on.
us to another one later this week. He’s too good to us.
I want to quickly talk about church and worship. It’s absolutely amazing. The church room is tiny like I talked about, but we cram a good 25 or 30 people in there. Each service we have praise – lower key songs where we can sit and just bask in God’s glory then we have worship! Worship is where we get wild for Christ. Africans love to sing, dance and jump so we sing, dance and jump. Most songs have some actions involved including one where we all pick up our chairs. This last Sunday was easily the best. The Spirit of joy was in that place as we all pretty much made a fool of ourselves for God. We laughed and danced and sang our hearts out. The church members shout and whistle and Pastor Patrick even showed off his three foot vertical jump at one point in time. I hope worship continues to be similar as we go throughout Africa.
Oh, and one of the best songs was the song I am a winner where we celebrate the fact we’re winners because Jesus is a winner. However, some of our Kenyan friends may or may not say winner like wiener so just imagine singing that while worshiping and you’ll understand where a lot of the laughter came from. Such a blast. I encourage everybody to worship with Africans at some point in time in their life. I guarantee you you’ll feel like a weiner.
Ok, so what does ministry look like?
Our general day is doing “hut-to-hut� ministries. We’ll break up into
groups and head out with some African translators from the church and simply
stroll up in people’s yards to talk about Christianity. Most people here are
already saved so we’ll generally ask them if they have any prayer requests and
offer them any encouragement we feel the Spirit leading us to give.
Some days are better than others and I truly feel like the words we speak affect the people we meet, but others just seemed a little shallow and monotonous. I knew I was doing God’s work, but it was tough to speak to someone for maybe 5 minutes and then move on. How do we know if we truly made a difference in their life? Well, after several mornings of getting on my face before the Lord before ministry and asking for big things the Lord blessed us with an incredible encounter – with a woman named Susan and with Him.
Susan specifically asked for us to come visit her. She had some type of infection that was essentially eating her face. Her face was covered in bumps and blisters and was bleeding. She had other medical issues and was struggling financially because her business was failing. We talked for a little while, encouraged her and then it was time to pray for her. She knelt on the floor, we put hands on her, and then the Holy Spirit started to rain. There was such power in the prayers my team was speaking. I felt the Spirit giving me things to pray for. I sensed a spirit of loneliness on her and prayed for that to be cast out. I used the authority God gives us as His believers, His children, His heirs. We called out to the Lord and prayed for healing. There is no doubt that the Spirit was thick in the room. It was what I want ministry to look like every day. It just felt different…it felt BIG.
We prayed for sometime and Susan began to cry and call out to the Lord saying she was faithful and believed He would heal. Afterward Susan hadn’t been healed on the outside, but I know that she was different after her experience. There was a lightness and joy that hadn’t been there. Susan is a woman of incredible faith who despite her trial knows the Lord is there and loves her. So she wasn’t physically healed, but I can tell you that my faith isn’t shaken at all either. I am 100% faithful that God will heal Susan. I can’t explain it. I just know that God is good. I wish I could put my words together better to explain how awesome God was in this moment, but I can’t. He’s beyond words.
So the Lord is working. He is listening. I’m continuing to call out for big things, and I’m faithful they are coming. I’d love for you to join me in prayer for that. I’m spending time each day trying to grow in my intimacy in the Lord. I worship Him, and I listen to Him. I’m ready to follow Him anywhere and do whatever He calls me to do. Because actually when I think about it my blog title is a lie. When it comes to God, I’m no wiener – I’m a winner!!
